


Food Was Scarce, but His Strength Was Great

by OhanaHoku



Series: The Noble and the Strong [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Carrying, Developing Friendships, Friendship, Gen, Hurt Lancelot (Merlin), Injured Lancelot, Injury, Lancelot and Percival Friendship, Lancelot is sort of a Damsel in Distress, Male Friendship, Mild Blood, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Protective Percival, Series, Short One Shot, Strength, part of a series, percival to the rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23762215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhanaHoku/pseuds/OhanaHoku
Summary: With Lancelot injured, Percival and his younger sister start a journey to take him to a healer.
Relationships: Brother & Sister, Lancelot & Percival (Merlin), Percival & Percival's Family
Series: The Noble and the Strong [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1616116
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	Food Was Scarce, but His Strength Was Great

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SwanFloatieKnight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwanFloatieKnight/gifts).



> Yes, I've finally, finally!, gotten the second part of this series up! XD Thank you all for supporting the previous fic in this series. Your comments and kudos always brighten my day! Special thanks to SwanFloatieKnight for their enthusiasm for this headcanon, and whom this fic is dedicated to! <3

It was early dawn the next morning as Percival nudged Lancelot awake, apologizing as the injured man opened his eyes with a quiet groan. “We need to keep moving.” He told him, helping him sit up some and handing him a bowl with a small portion of pottage inside. It wasn’t as much as he would have liked to give the man, but food was scarce, and they’d barely enough to feed themselves, much less an extra mouth.

But what they had would be enough. Gunnora was only two days walk from there, as opposed to the four days walk their village, and he was certain that Gunnora would provide them with what they needed to reach their village. The older woman was always kind that way.

“Thank you.”

Percival looked over to Lancelot and nodded silently before getting back to work packing up their belongings. He smiled up at his little sister as she came over to hand him her empty bowl, taking it and tucking it into his pack.   
  
He saw her looking back at the man slumped against the cave wall and cleared his throat to get her attention. “Haiden, put the fire out.” He told her, smiling a little as her face lit up. “Be careful, do it the way I showed you.”

Eyes wary, he glanced back at Lancelot as she did what she was instructed to do. While he didn’t think the man was dangerous, especially with the injury impeding him, he was still a stranger.

He wasn’t going to ignore his sister’s safety in favor of trusting a man that he knew nothing about. He eyed the sword he had strapped to his pack, wondering if it belonged to the man, or if it had been stolen. None of the men in his village owned a sword. It was something that only those noble, or well-off could afford. The man didn’t look as if he was of noble birth, wearing a peasant’s tunic and a belt that showed no royal markings. Even his pants were torn and faded. In short, he didn’t look the sort who could afford a sword.

Even the bandits who had ambushed Lancelot had only a couple swords between them. Others had crudely made daggers or clubs. It was probably why they had targeted the man, to begin with, to steal the sword off him.

Well, it didn’t matter. What mattered was getting the man to Gunnora. She was a retired healer, she could help him.

Percival stood, striding back to the man’s side to find that he had dozed off once more, too weak to stay awake for long. He took the empty bowl from his hands and put it away with the other before securing the pack to his back. It seemed he would be carrying the man again that day.

* * *

“Percy, I’m tired,” Haiden told him at midday, tugging on his shirt. “Can we stop now, please?”

He looked down at her and smiled apologetically. “We have to keep going, Haiden. We need to reach Gunnora, so she can help him get better.”

She nodded but frowned a little. “Do you think he’s going to be alright?” She asked, tilting her head up at him. “He lost a lot of blood.”

Percival hummed but knew better than to sugarcoat it. “I don’t know, Haiden. But we’re going to do our best to make sure he will be.” He assured her with a small smile. He looked around at their surroundings then, consulting his mental map of the area. “There’s a stream not far from here. You think you can walk just a little longer before we take a break?”

She seemed to consider the question for a minute before nodding. Not long after, her childish voice picked up in song.

* * *

They stopped at the stream for a drink and a short break of walking. Percival managed to wake Lancelot just long enough to get some water into him before the man passed out again. He was beginning to develop a fever, a red flush to his cheeks, and a light sheen of sweat on his brow.

Percival frowned at the sight, but there was nothing he could do to remedy the man’s ills, aside from ripping his spare shirt again for more bandages to redress his wound.

He looked back at Haiden when he was done, sighing when he saw the young girl sleeping. He couldn’t blame her for being tired. This was her first time on a long trip, and Percival had been letting her sleep for a while in the afternoons as he carried her. That is until he had saved Lancelot.

A calculating look in his eyes, Percival looked between the two and the pack he was carrying before making his decision.

Not long after, Percival was trekking quietly down the road, his pack hanging off one arm, Lancelot cradled in both of them, and Haiden clinging to his back as she slept.

**Author's Note:**

> Word Count - 830. Not a lot of action in this one, but I wanted to get a little bit of Percival's thoughts on things. Let me know what you guys think! :D Also, I decided, thanks to your votes, on The Noble and the Strong for the title of this series. Thank you to those who voted. :)
> 
> Check out my [tumblr](https://ohanahoku-ao3.tumblr.com/) if you want to know which stories I'll be updating next!


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